The technology described herein relates to data processing systems and in particular to cache operation in data processing systems.
Many data processing systems use caches to store data, etc., locally to a processing unit or units so as to reduce the need to fetch data from slower data stores, such as main memory of the data processing system. In such arrangements, it will first be determined whether the data is available in the appropriate cache. If the data is present in the cache (there is a cache “hit”), then the data can be read from the cache, rather than from the main data store where it is stored, thereby allowing the processing operation to proceed more rapidly. On the other hand, if the data is not present in the cache (there is a cache “miss”), then the process will operate to first fetch the relevant data into the cache, with the processing operation being stalled until the relevant data is stored in the cache.
The Applicants believe that there remains scope for improvements to cache operation in data processing system.
Like reference numerals are used for like components where appropriate in the drawings.